Against the Forbes list participant the criminal case is opened for illegal use of vodka brands Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya.

The Moscow City Court ordered the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation to amnesty the billionaire Yuri Scheffler, who is accused of illegally using vodka brands Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya. These brands belong to the state. The owner of SPI Group is currently being sought.

The businessman's lawyer said that the court declared illegal the refusal of the application of economic amnesty in relation to his client.

Yuri Scheffler owns the rights to several different brands of vodka in Western countries. In 2002, the Court ruled that the use of certain trademarks owned by the federal government enterprise Souzplodoimport is illigal. In addition, Scheffler was accused of smuggling of alcoholic products, organizing a criminal group, but later the investigation abandoned of these allegations. Six years later, the businessman was arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list, but his extradition was denied to Russia.

In 2013, at the initiative of the President it was adopted the economic amnesty, under which also the owner of SPI Group faced up. Then the participant of the Forbes list transferred on the account of Soyuzplodoimport 1.3 million rubles, though the company has estimated the damage to 140 times more - 192 million rubles. The investigator decided to refuse Shefleru amnesty, because the disagreement of the injured party. The businessman appealed that to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

The Supreme Court removed the case to refuse amnesty on the basis of decisions of the COP in the Moscow City Court, after which the complaint against actions of the investigator went to the Moscow City Court on appeal.